Acceptance of a Name
by mycatatemyshoe
Summary: This is a story of how Harry and his life would be different if he had never gone to live with the Dursleys, but had lived in foster homes instead. No pairings and NO slash.
1. How it Began

**This story is how Harry and his life would be different if he had never gone and lived with the Dursleys, but had grown up in foster homes (notice home is plural). No pairings and no slash.**

Chapter One: How it began

Sirius saw the green in the sky long before it registered in his head what it was or whose house it was over. As he drew closer to the swirling green mass, it started to take shape; and panic swept over him. He laid on the gas and sped to the mark, only to have his worst fears confirmed.

Sirius quickly landed the motorcycle and jumped off of it, before it had completely stopped, and he ran over to what was left of his dear friends' house. He looked around panic-stricken and dismayed. Where was James? Where was Lily? Then he saw them, lying lifeless, on the ground.

Tears welled up in his eyes and started to run like a fountain down his face. Sirius' best friend James, the only family that he had, was dead. So was Lily, sweet Lily. Sirius had become really close friends with her over the years too. Then he remembered, their boy, Harry. Where was he?

Somewhat reluctantly (he was afraid of what he would see) he looked around for the baby boy.

Sirius was startled, just then, by a strange sound. He looked around defensively, expecting to see a Death Eater. Or worse, Voldemort. But no one came. And as no one came, but the sound continue, Sirius realized that what he was hearing was crying.

Sirius scrambled over to where the sound was coming from, and found young Harry lying on the ground crying. But Harry hadn't gotten out this ordeal without a scratch, on the contrary, he had a cut on his forehead that was bleeding quit a lot, in Sirius' opinion.

Sirius picked up Harry and cradled him.

"It's okay," he said soothingly.

Then he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the blood off of Harry's head, and was surprised to see that the cut was no longer bleeding. Sirius' brow furrowed. If Harry wasn't bleeding anymore, then he must have been laying there for awhile. Which brought up the questions: Where was the Dark Lord? and, Why hadn't he killed Harry yet?

Not wanting to stick around for when Voldemort did returned, Sirius bundled Harry up in some random blankets that where lying around, and got onto the motorcycle. Then, holding Harry closely to him, he took off into the night.

It didn't take Sirius very long to figure out what had happened with his friends. He knew that Wormtail was the only one who could have told Voldemort where the Potters lived. That meant that Wormtail had betrayed his friends. Which meant that he needed to be punished.

Sirius didn't know where to go and dawn was breaking. He knew that he needed to get Harry to Dumbledore, but he didn't know where Dumbledore was.

Feeling exhausted (after flying around for a while longer) Sirius started to descend, when he saw something. He scrunched up his eyes, trying to get a better look at the darting figure below him. It took Sirius a second to recognize the figure as Wormtail.

Anger boiled inside of Sirius and he quickly pulled ahead of Peter and landed in an empty ally. Then he got off the bike, and laid the sleeping Harry on a pile of old burlap sacks. He looked at Harry and his expression softened. But then his expression changed again. This time, because he saw that little rat Wormtail (AN: Wormtail isn't in his rat form. I was just using an expression) ran by the alley.

Sirius looked at Harry again, then back in the direction, in which Wormtail went. He knew that he shouldn't leave Harry alone, but he would only be gone a minute, and Wormtail needed to be shown that he couldn't get away with what he had just done. Sirius bent down and kissed Harry on the forehead and left.

A few hours went by, but Sirius did not return. And in that time Harry had woken up and started crying. He actually, started to cry, as a young woman was passing the alleyway. Curious, she entered the alley and saw Harry. Taking compassion on him, she gathered the baby up in her arms and took him back to her home. Then from there, she took him to the nearest orphanage.

Over in Azkaban Sirius was in complete shock over what Pettigrew had done. He sat in the corner of his cell fuming over it, until...he remembered Harry. He was still in the alley and it was probably getting cold, and he was more than likely hungry.

Sirius spent the next hour shouting for someone to go to the alley and get Harry. Eventually, one of the auruors (spelling?) said that he would go and look in the alley. But when he came back he told Sirius that there had been no baby there.

Harry was never found, and the wizarding world spent the next ten years shrouded in the mystery of what had happened to the boy who had destroyed the most evil wizard ever.

**Well that's it for the first chapter. Hope you liked it. I will be updating as soon as I can. Don't worry the story will pick up and won't always be this depressing. Also, if you're wondering, this whole fic takes place in Harry's first year (though sequels may come) RR, no flames. The next chapter will be Harry finding out that he's a wizard.**


	2. Now it Begins

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did then. . . well I would still post HP stories here, but that's not the point.**

**A/N: I know this chapter's short. **

Large, observant, green eyes stared out of the second story window of ST. Milligan's Orphanage. They were carefully watching the other children run around and play outside, while he had to stay in that stuffy old building.

The young boy heaved a sigh, pushed his glasses back up his nose, and walked away from the window. Then he went over to his small cot and sat upon its fairly hard surface. How he hated adoption days. Although, you couldn't exactly call this an adoption. An unknown beneficiary was paying for him to go to some private boarding school.

The young boy laid down and pressed his palms into his eyes. He probably knew the person who was paying for him to leave. In fact, he was sure that it was Mr. Kinotin, the owner of the orphanage. No one in that whole stinken' place wanted him there. This was just the excuse to get rid of him.

Suddenly the boy heard footsteps as they came down the hall. He listened intently. If he focused hard enough then he would be able to tell who was coming, just by the sound of their footsteps. After a few quick seconds he was able to surmise that it was Jonathan, one of the older and more annoying boys, and some new kid. From the sound of it he was small for his age, maybe twelve, shy, freckles, coke-bottle glasses, wavy light brown hair.

At that moment two boys entered the room. One was fifteen with short blond hair and a superior sneer that was a permanent fixture on the boy's face. The other boy was smaller, pale, though he had freckles, thick glasses and sandy hair.

"Danget," the raven-haired boy said, "I got the hair wrong."

"Oh it's you," Jonathan said in disgust.

"Who's that?" the new boy asked, curious about Jonathan's reaction.

"It's just Michael," Jonathan said in an uncaring tone, "he's no one of real consequence. You won't even be seeing him after today."

"Why?" the sandy haired boy asked with wide eyes.

"Cause they're shipping me off to a school that harbors felons," Michael said, his tone dead serious.

"No they're not," Jonathan snapped, angry that Michael was already trying to scare the newcomer, before he had even been there a whole day.

"Well for all we know it's true," Michael insisted. Then he turned to the new boy and gave him a hard look. "That's what they do when they get sick of having you around."

The boy gasped.

"Conner don't listen to him," Jonathan demanded, "he's just trying to scare you."

"Yeah," Michael agreed, but then he shouted, "with the truth! I've been sent back to this particular orphanage six different times. Beware," he whispered to Conner, his eyes wide with fright. Then, before Jonathan could say anything, Michael quickly jumped off his bed and left the room.

Sucker.

As Michael made his way down the long, deteriorating, corridor he saw a tall balding man in a horribly color-coordinated shirt coming towards him.

"Aw Michael," the man said, "just the boy I was looking for. I was just about to come and get you."

Michael rolled his eyes and looked down at his old wrist watch. "Gee it's not even three yet. Couldn't wait thirty more minutes to get rid of me?" Michael's tone was snide.

The agreement had been that Michael would be taken away from the wretched orphanage at three o'clock. But, as always, Mr. Kinotin seemed to be ahead of schedule.

"On the contrary," Mr Kinotin said, "the man who is to take you to your school arrived early. Can't imagine why," the last part had been muttered under his breath, but Michael heard and chose to ignore it.

"Come on then," Mr. Kinotin said and he led Michael down the hall and then down the stairs, into his office. A familiar path to Michael.

When the two entered the office Michael saw a dark-suited man standing by the large oak desk. The man was fairly tall, had a long-hooked nose, and long greasy black hair.

"Michael, this is Mr. Snape. He will be taking you to your school."

**Muahahahaha! Okay so I guess I lied. Harry doesn't find out that he's a wizard in this chapter. But I got a review and I was tired of typing my other story so I thought 'what the hey' and decided to type this up and post it. I'm not really sure when I will update again and for that I'm sorry. Also, in the very **_**very**_** off chance that you didn't get it, Michael is Harry. Please review and again NO FLAMES. They scare me and make me want to cry. ;) **


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